بلو

Core meaning

To test: to submit a being to what brings out its true worth, through evil as through good.

Uses

1. بَلَا, يَبْلُو, ٱبْتَلَىٰ → "to test" : God's gesture upon beings: through fear and loss, through good things and bad, through honor and want.

   • «ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلْمَوْتَ وَٱلْحَيَوٰةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًۭا» — "who created death and life to test you: which of you acts best" (67:2)
   • «وَبَلَوْنَٰهُم بِٱلْحَسَنَٰتِ وَٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ» — "And We tested them with good things and bad things, perhaps they would return" (7:168)
   • «إِذَا مَا ٱبْتَلَىٰهُ رَبُّهُۥ فَأَكْرَمَهُۥ وَنَعَّمَهُۥ» — "when his Guardian tests him and honors him and blesses him" (89:15)

2. بَلَآء → "a testing" : the very event by which the being is tested.

   • «إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَهُوَ ٱلْبَلَٰٓؤُا۟ ٱلْمُبِينُ» — "This was surely the manifest testing" (37:106)
   • «مَا فِيهِ بَلَٰٓؤٌۭا۟ مُّبِينٌ» — "that which held a manifest testing" (44:33)

3. يَبْلَىٰ → "to decay" : what time tests to the point of wearing out; the Diverter promises Adam a dominion that would escape it.

   • «وَمُلْكٍۢ لَّا يَبْلَىٰ» — "and a dominion that does not decay" (20:120)

Evidence from the text

The test bears on evil as on good: fear, hunger and loss (2:155), but also the favor received, the degrees between people, the adornment of the earth (27:40, 6:165, 18:7). In 89:15-16, the same verb says honor and restricted provision, and the human being is mistaken about both. Sulayman says it of himself: "This is from the favor of my Guardian, to test me: will I acknowledge, or will I disown?" (27:40).

It does not punish: it brings out what was within, "so that God may distinguish who fears Him even though He escapes his senses" (5:94), down to the secrets themselves, on the last day (86:9).

Distinctions

• فتن — the trial that puts to the proof through affliction or temptation; "trial" is reserved for it
• محن — to examine: the targeted verification

See also

صبر (patience)